Some Rogers customers in Cambridge, Ontario, lost internet, TV, and phone service over the weekend after a fibre line was deliberately damaged — an incident the company says reflects a troubling rise in vandalism targeting telecom networks across Canada.
Rogers said the disruption happened near Main Street and Regional Road 24 (Ainslie Street), where vandals damaged part of its fibre infrastructure. The company confirmed it worked through the night to restore service and that local police are investigating.
“These types of repairs are complex and take time,” a Rogers spokesperson said to CambridgeToday, adding that incidents like this one have become increasingly common.
According to the company, this was the 15th case of vandalism-related service interruption this year in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge and Guelph region. Compared to 2022, such incidents are happening four to five times more often.
Nick Kyonka from the Canadian Telecommunications Association said telecom companies across the country are seeing the same issue, including copper thefts and deliberate damage to equipment.
“These crimes lead to communities losing access to communications services, jeopardizing public safety, and disrupting local businesses and critical services,” Kyonka said. “To protect the public, we need tougher criminal laws that address these serious offences.”
Critics pointed out at the lack of backups when these forms of vandalism happens. “What is not covered in this outage story is that the lack of diversity and redundancy in the municipal distribution networks of large incumbent telecoms is why these fibre cuts result in outages and why they take so long to restore,” said communications consultancy CPC on X.
Earlier this summer, Bell also flagged Cambridge as a hotspot for copper thefts, citing a national increase in vandalism and theft targeting telecom networks over the past few years.
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"What is not covered in this outage story is that the lack of diversity and redundancy in the municipal distribution networks of large incumbent telecoms " So we're to have two connections to each place on separate paths? I'm sure THAT won't increase the costs at all. What's needed is a lot better law enforcement with serious penalties for vandalism.
Its unfortunate that people think copper is worth a life.
The previous post mentioned diversity and redundancy. Well. When a fibre cable, much like a bridge into town is destroyed. It takes time to repair.
and your cell phone as well as your landline. If you are smart enough to have one. And if you can't absolutely deal without your Internet babysitter. Find one.
You are a terrible .,…..